A wire harness routed in a vehicle such as an automobile has an area in which a wiring path needs to be guided and the wire harness needs to be protected to prevent interference with outer members, and this area is inserted into a protector made of a molded resin. Further, at a portion of the wire harness not covered by the protector, the wire harness is inserted into a convoluted conduit having ring-shaped crests and troughs alternating in an axial direction such that the wire harness is bendably, extendably and contractably covered by the convoluted conduit.
When the wire harness covered by the convoluted conduit is continuously covered by the protector, in a case where an area covered by the protector is short or no branch line is branched off from a portion covered by the protector, the wire harness may be inserted into the entire length of the protector without removing the convoluted conduit. Alternatively, in many cases, the front end of the convoluted conduit covering the wire harness is inserted into the protector, and the wire harness is inserted into the protector without the convoluted conduit.
In any case, it is necessary to keep the convoluted conduit in a position inside the protector. Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of circular arc-shaped ribs 115 are provided in an axial direction protruding from an inner circumferential surface on a front-end opening side of a main body 100 and a lid (not shown) of a protector, the ribs 115 fitting troughs 111 of a convoluted conduit 110. The total number of electric wires configuring a wire harness is different depending on a vehicle's destination or class. Accordingly, an outer diameter of the wire harness differs, and a diameter of the convoluted conduit 110 covering the wire harness also differs. When the size is different, an outer diameter of a trough of a convoluted conduit also differs. In a case where the ribs 115 provided to the protector are for a large-diameter convoluted conduit, the ribs 115 do not fit a diameter of a trough of a small-diameter convoluted conduit, and the convoluted conduit cannot be securely held. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a protector for each size of convoluted conduit, which results in an increase in the number of components and in manufacturing costs.
To address the problem described above, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-74844, the inventors of the present invention have suggested a protector that can accommodate convoluted conduits having different sizes, large and small. In the protector shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, while a main body 101 of a protector 100 is used for both, a large-diameter lid 102A and a small-diameter lid 102B are provided as lids. Ribs 104 protruding from an internal surface of the main body 101 and engaging with troughs of a convoluted conduit are configured to fit a large-diameter convoluted conduit CT-L. Ribs provided to the large-diameter lid 102A are configured to fit the large-diameter convoluted conduit. Ribs provided to the small-diameter lid 102B are configured to fit a small-diameter convoluted conduit CT-S.